From October 24 Malaysian carrier Air Asia X will start flying from London Gatwick Airport.
The airline will stop its existing operations out of London Stansted.
Azran Osman-Rani, AirAsia X’s CEO, said the decision came down to “commercial opportunities”.
“AirAsia X see’s strong potential for the airport as we believe our entry will address the fact that direct services to Asia are significantly underserved from Gatwick,” he said.
“Gatwick Airport was chosen as it demonstrated the passion to work with us in realising our objectives to grow passenger traffic between our hubs in Asia Pacific and London.
“With our new home base in Gatwick, guests would be able to further benefit from the airport’s destination served, airline diversity, and beyond market connectivity potential with faster and cheaper rail connectivity to the city as compared to Stansted.”
Air Asia X started flying to the UK from March 2009, when it started operations between London Stansted and Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian carrier currently flies six times per week on the route.
Air Asia X will have similar slot times to those planned for Stansted for the winter season, and passengers with existing bookings from Stansted after October 24 will be offered bus transfers where needed.
www.airasia.com